Arterial stiffness is a term that describes the hardening of arteries in your body. Stiffened arteries are associated with arterio- and atherosclerosis as well, a term that describes narrowing of the arteries. These processes are not benign and are associated with increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Heart attacks (and heart disease in general) are the number one killer of folks in the United States annually with estimates of 600-700k heart attacks per year. It is estimated that as many as 17 million people die from heart disease globally each year.

Strokes are a little farther down the list, coming in as the fifth killer of Americans with 130,000 deaths annually. However, 800,000 Americans have strokes every year which can be very disabling but not fatal. It is estimated that 15 million people have strokes around the globe annually.

To a certain extent, this process of arterial stiffening occurs naturally as we age, but like most things that happen in our body, it’s heavily influenced by lifestyle factors. Examples include weight loss and dietary change. The authors of this study wanted to know if supplementing magnesium would reduce arterial stiffness.

Methods

They performed a 24-wk, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled intervention study.